The Recipe for Racial Unity and Healing
These are troubled times. Protests across the United States illustrate the racial divide that continues to boil over. Racial equality and healing seem like distant dreams. It does not look hopeful that we will see equality practiced and healing take place any time...
An Appeal to American Voters: On the 2016 Presidential Election
My fellow Americans of every race, religion, and creed, I ask you to consider the weight of the moment, and if I let it pass by in silence, I will consider it an irresponsibility, so I voice a simple appeal here. Lost in the noise of personality-politics that has been...
Undergirding Versus Integrating: Where Biblical Truth Fits in Education (Slides)
The PDF file below is the powerpoint slide file for Dr. Cone's presentation to the ACSI Professional Development Forum, October 14, 2016.
“The most effective leadership, management, and efficiency models share traits common with each other, and traits that are ultimately traceable to the pages of the Bible. While these models are often not intentionally rooted in Biblical concepts by those that promote the models, the models illustrate how applying Biblical principles can set a trajectory of success in enterprise and in life. Led By a Lion is designed to introduce some of these leadership, management, and efficiency models, but goes a step further in identifying the Biblical genesis of many of the core traits that fuel the success of these models.”
The Hebrews Warning Passages: Why They Matter and What They Say
The Letter to the Hebrews is theologically rich, and is both informative and practical. The writer of the letter explains the superiority of Christ and our need to respond to Him properly, and warns readers in eight passages of the consequences for failing to walk...
Gender Design and Distinctions in Position and Practice
The Biblical record is univocal in considering essential differences between man and woman. Genesis 2:20 describes an incompleteness in creation when there was no helper (Heb. ezer) found suitable for Adam. The statement immediately following the identification of the...
Foreshadowing and Fulfillment: The New Testament Use of the Old Testament in John
JOHANNINE PARALLELISM OF FORESHADOWING AND FULFILLMENT: AFFIRMING THE NEW TESTAMENT USE OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY AS UNCOMPROMISINGLY LITERAL Presented to the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics September 15, 2016 Christopher Cone, Th.D, Ph.D, Ph.D President,...
“This approach has the advantage of seeking to view all knowledge through the lens of Scripture, and to subject all knowledge to the authority of Scripture. It encourages science and research within the field of psychology. It offers a Biblical balance of description and prescription. Of course, if the Bible is unreliable, then the refractive power of Scripture is distortive rather than corrective, but the epistemological premise of this approach is that God’s word is authoritative and sufficient for our understanding, for our equipping, and for our practice. There are many extra-biblical resources that we can employ, but in seeking out how and when to do that, we mustn’t lose sight of the one reliable constant that God has provided for us – the Bible.” –Chapter 9
Church and Ministry Statistics and Their Implications for Leadership Training
These are both exciting and challenging times for ministry. This generation has seen more technological progress than perhaps any other in history. Information is accessible now in ways previously unimagined. These advances have helped accelerate cultural change and...
New Book Announcement – Applied Biblical Worldview: Essays on Christian Ethics
Available now, and recently ranked #7 on Amazon's Hot New Releases Top 100 in its category (Ethics and Morality), from Exegetica Publishing is a new book by Dr. Christopher Cone – Applied Biblical Worldview: Essays on Christian Ethics, a revision and expansion of The...
From Dispensational Publishing House: A Dispensational Discourse with Dr. Christopher Cone
Editor’s Note: September is back-to-school month, so I thought it would be a great time to interview someone who could offer a unique perspective on the future of higher theological education. And I certainly found the right person to talk about it! I have watched the...
“The Green Tree is an exceptional work…provides a vital tool for every Bible interpreter…Just as the root system is the foundation of a tree and directly impacts the health of a tree, hermeneutic method is at the root of one’s worldview. This illustration demonstrates that the hermeneutic method that an interpreter of the Bible employs will significantly affect the outcome. The tree will either be healthy, or it will not be healthy…The authors provide a unique examination of Revelation, Genesis, and Job that demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is derived from within Scripture, something that other hermeneutical methods fail to demonstrate. This is perhaps the most crucial principle demonstrated in The Green Tree, and it effectively demonstrates that the LGH hermeneutic is also the Biblical hermeneutic.” – Andrew Friend (Amazon Review)
Why Do Bad Things Happen?
You recall how the story goes – God and Satan are having a discussion about a man named Job. He was a man of great character whom God had given much wealth and blessing. God commends Job, and Satan accuses Job, betting that Job would deny God if God would simply allow...
Breaking the Hinge in the Free-Will vs. Sovereignty Debate
One simple premise undergirds the ideas that either humanity has free volition or that God is sovereign, and that ultimately the two concepts are mutually exclusive. That premise is the hinge upon which the argument turns, favoring either human freedom or Divine...
The Beautiful Paradox: God’s Unfathomability and Knowability
In response to the question of whether or not science makes belief in God obsolete, Christopher Hitchens (who ultimately answers the question in the negative), suggested that, “It will not do to say, in reply to this, that the lord moves in mysterious ways. Those who...
Beware Objective Standards Where Only Subjective Ones Are Provided
Paul’s instructions to Timothy regarding the qualifications for leadership in the church (specifically for elders in 3:1-7) are vitally important. They are also not as simple as we might sometimes prefer. We generally prefer things to be neat and clean – objective and...
A Worker’s Manifesto: Why Do Excellent Work?
I once heard a story – I don’t recall where – of a builder who was commissioned by his employer to build a house. The builder’s employer gave specific instructions regarding the quality of the house. He wanted it to be excellent, but the builder tried to save money...
How Can I Know God’s Will For My Life?
In a study addressing why millennials stay in church, the Barna group discovered that 65% of active church goers or those who believed their faith is very important to their life believed that the Bible contains everything a person needs to live a meaningful life,...
A Recommended Biblical Statement on Gender, Sexuality, and Marriage
From evolving societal perceptions of gender and sexuality and from newly adjusted legal definitions of marriage emanating from SCOTUS emerge significant complications for churches and other faith-based organizations. As a result, there has recently been a wave...
How to Measure Pastoral Success
For some unidentifiable reason I enjoy tormenting students with an important albeit slippery theological and philosophical question. What is good? As you might imagine, the answers I get are quite diverse. One student recently responded by citing an online dictionary...
Why Am I Planting a Church in San Diego?
After much prayerful labor by many people, on July 25, 2015, as God allows, San Diego Fellowship of the Bible (SDF, for short) will launch. But why and with what distinctives? One characteristic shared by many areas in the United States is the number of local...
Some Definitions Related to God’s Program and Administration
Understanding the Biblical usage of terms such as dispensation, covenant, and kingdom of God can go a long way in helping is recognize what God's big picture is, and how He intends to fill in the details. Let's take a look at some definitions and explanations of these...